Traditional mexican musicians. Eliseo Ocampo Sandoval . 

By Oscar Cortes Palma

Eliseo Ocampo Sandoval, 83 years old, musician of Axochiapan, born in 1930. When Eliseo Ocampo was child wanted made up a tamborcito cardboard. Seeing this, his father had compassion and helped him develop his drum.

 In those years "Tecuan" or Jaguar dance was in crisis and almost disappeared, so it was necessary to bring teachers and musicians from other villages to teach the steps and "dialogues" of dance. The musician or "pitero" who taught dance Tecuan was Faustino Benitez who lives in next town called "Atlacahualoya"but once stopped coming and subsequently died but left disciples.

In the town of Atlacahualoya his son Luis Benitez learned but as it is too old age no longer continuous playing, so now the sound of the dance of Atlacahualoya Tecuan are interpreted by axochiapenses piteros, which obviously play axochiapenses sones. 

In the town of Calmeca dance was lost, but in the town of Axochiapan, Eliseo Ocampo nicknamed "Bear", learned the sounds but being a child of only 10 years old, and spoke Nahuatl, did not understand the dialogues characters were saying, further, were already very old. One of those older dancers who knew the dialogue was Victor Mozo Jacinto, who before the Mexican Revolution and Tecuan danced and rehearsed in the house of John Daniel "alias Juan Chona" as we said his son Arturo Chinese Mozo. 

Eliseo Ocampo said his musical career began when he missed the pitero Faustino Atlacahualoya Benitez and his older brothers went to ask her father to give him permission to touch her ​​brother to dance music. However, not all the pastors of the Church they liked the dance, it was with the intercession of his uncle Narciso when he finally accepted that Tecuanes dance in the atrium. After this a generational shift, Eliseo Ocampo came, changed the sound and choreography. In his own words, made ​​more dynamic, a few years later came another pitero called Peter Navarro and so were proliferating more piteros to add about two dozen, were also proliferating Tecuanes groups to become more or less fifteen. 

Each group or gang Tecuanes is mainly formed on average by 40 residents of the same colony or neighborhood people, but not required to live in the same colony as who so desires can dance crews Tecuanes from other colonies or neighborhoods. Some names crews Tecuanes are: 
1. "The Allende" 2.- "The Harriers", 3 .- "The Ardilleros" 4.- "The Progress" 5 .- "Florida 1", 6 .- "La Florida 2" 7 .- "The Carretos" 8 .- "The Office" 9 .- "El Barrio Pobre", 10 .- "El Barrio Loco", 11. "Chicanos Locos", 12 .- "Return Veterans of 1910 "13 .-" Barrio Cholo ", 14.-15. thugs and Cuauhtemoc.

Eliseo Sandoval Ocampo said the reformed melodies and choreography and dance now dance as he designed it. Before dancing in chains, but decided to change them crossed. Before dressed as a set of chaquetudos dandies, had dialogues in Nahuatl that told a story like "Dance of the Cowboys," danced only men, and all the dancers had a name. But reformed dance, so a year Tecuanes dressed as bullfighters, the year of chickadees, and so on. Eliseo Ocampo told us a story about when he was 20 years old: visited Don Eliseo B. Aragon, nahuatlato and cultural promoter, about 70 years, accompanied by some people. 


Eliseo B. Aragon said, "Play us the ancient sounds of the dance Tecuanes to record an album and join us to Cuernavaca." To which Elisha Ocampo said, "I know the old pieces, I play the new not old." 
Two Champs, agreed that the dances are transformed over time. Eliseo Ocampo reforms explain why dance Tecuan Axochiapan enough choreographic freedoms granted to participants who can be disguised from cheerleading huentle, XV years, clowns, parades, etc., however the inhabitants strive to recover the original characters, which are the old hunters. 

The exponential growth of groups of dancers and musicians in Axochiapan can be explained by the "contests" of dancers from the eighties and turkeys where the winners received trophies and banners. 

Eliseo Ocampo, like other piteros of Morelos, organized dance for fun because in general they all live in poverty, most can not read or write, and engage in activities agropecuarias.Aunque new generations of piteros have different characteristics as we said Eliseo Ocampo "the Tecuanes Axochiapan never going to end."

© Oscar Cortes Palma, Historian and Researcher of Jaguar dances.

Email axochiapancultural@hotmail.com..;cami17_4@hotmail.com; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/axochiapan   Utilísese educational confines citing the author.